24 Open Pit Mines or 500 Underground Mines Needed to Meet Government's Hyped Coromandel Projections !

The Government has totally relied on a mining lobbyist Richard Bakers' "back of an envelope" estimates of potential gross gold and silver "value" --These are quoted in its discussion paper as $54 billion for the Coromandel, and $18 billion for Coromandel conservation land it wishes to open up to mining.

The discussion paper also says that mineral production from the open pit mine at Newmont's Martha Hill Waihi is "valued" at $225 million per annum

"So Coromandel Watchdog has done some back of the envelope calculations of its own", says its spokesperson Denis Tegg.

"If the average life of a modern mine is say 10 years, the "value" of total production per open pit mine would be $2.25 billion."

"So how many open pit mines "worth" $2.25 billion (each with associated 40 million tonnes of toxic waste) must be operating to extract the potential $54 billion of resources.? The back of Watchdog's envelope gives the answer --. 24 open pit mines on the Coromandel, and 8 open pit mines in the 2,500 hectares of Coromandel conservation land the Government wants to remove from Schedule 4 !"

"But if open pit mining is "ruled out" as the PM would have us believe, only underground mines can be used to extract this incredible $54 billion potential."

"With underground mines being about say 1/20th the size of an open pit mine, we would have nearly 500 underground mines on the Coromandel, and 163 under ground mines in the 2,500 hectares of Coromandel Schedule 4 land --- all operating for 10 years -- to achieve the Government's estimate "

The Govt paper also says that after 66 years of intense mining, the Thames goldfield produced just $3.6 billion of gold at today's prices. "If Government figures are to be believed those old miners completely missed finding another $54 billion-dollar bonanza just waiting to be dug up in the next few years."

Also Minerals Association lobbyist Doug Gordon says only 1 in 1000 prospects ever turn into a workable economic mine. "Gordon's statements mean we have to divide the potential $54 billion by 1000 -- giving a figure of only $54 million straight off the bat.

The Government's and mining interest's figures are an orchestrated con job and the public will not be fooled, said Mr Tegg.

ENDS

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